University of Virginia Library

1. INTRODUCTION

In his 1988 essay, Indian/White Relations: A View from the Other Side of the Frontier, Alfonso Ortiz asserts that American history is written strictly from the white man's perspective. While an American culture was being established, the cultures of the Native American were totally distorted. In fact, the European invaders tried to destroy that culture under the guise of trying to assimilate or Christianize the Native American in to the European culture. To have a true history of this land, the records must be written by all participants. In his essay, Ortiz laid out a model that would present people with a more accurate view of American history. Part of that model demanded that the historical values of oral traditions must be respected. As well, Ortiz felt it the duty of Native Americans to take on roles as historians and to accept the challenge to seek out, gather, and present accurate portrayals of history.[1]

Decades before Ortiz's article, one Native American was already attempting to safeguard cultural features of his society. B. N. O. Walker, or Hen-Toh, was born in Kansas in 1870 and was one of eight children born to Isaiah and Mary Walker. At the age of 4, Walker's family was removed from Kansas and sent to live in lands allocated to the Wyandot in extreme northeastern Indian Territory, slightly southwest of Seneca, Missouri. Hen-Toh received his education at a local mission school as well as public schools and a private academy in Seneca. His higher education was obtained under a private tutor, a former college professor in Seneca. From 1890 until his death in 1927, Hen-Toh spent the majority of his time working for the Indian Service. He worked the first 10 years as a teacher in federal Indian schools in California, Arizona and Missouri and later worked as a clerk at various Indian agencies. At the time of his death, Hen-Toh was working at the Quapaw Agency in Miami, Oklahoma as Chief Clerk; however, for Hen-Toh, home was always the family homestead near Seneca. [2]

Hen-Toh was raised in an environment in which much of the history, myths, and folklore was handed down by word of mouth. Preserving the past was also part of Hen-Toh's background. Both Hen-Toh's mother and father were descended from well-known families of their respective tribes. Hen-Toh's great-uncle, William Walker, had been a Wyandot chief who later served as the first provisional governor for the Nebraska Territory. He was also known as a speaker, writer and poet. In addition, a close relative of Hen-Toh's mother was Peter Dooyentate Clarke. In 1870, the year of Hen-Toh's birth, Clarke published Origin and Traditional History of the Wyandot in which Clarke "endeavor[s] to give a sketch as I had it from the lips of such, and from some of the tribes that have since passed away" of the history of the Wyandot people. [3]

Clarke's considered his attempt at preserving Wyandot history corresponding to the increasing notion that the Native American was becoming extinct. In his words,

Clarke envisioned that the fate of the red man was to give place to another race of people-and vanish before the march of civilization.

Clarke's notion was very much in keeping with the general attitude regarding the Native American at the time. Brian Dippie writes in the preface of his book, The Vanishing American: White Attitudes and U.S. Indian Policy, that the American tradition of the time, one that was 'rich in pathos and older than the Republic' was that "Indians...are a vanishing race; they have been wasting away since the day the white man arrived, diminishing in vitality and numbers, until in some not too distant future, no red men will be left on the face of the earth." [4] The idea of the disappearing Indian was at its peak during Hen-Toh's life. The notion was found in stories, songs and plays of the era.

In addition, the social science community became active in collecting artifacts for the disappearing cultures. Several Native American ethnologists were busy trying to capture for posterity their own segment of native culture. Arthur Caswell Parker, Iroquois, assumed many roles while documenting Iroquois history such as ethnologist, archeologist, Indian rights advocate, children's author, historian and museum curator. Parker's works, which helped to inform Americans on Indian mores, include The Iroquois Uses of Maize and Other Food Plants (1910), The Amazing Iroquois (1927), The Constitution of the Five Nations (1918), Skunny Wundy: Seneca Indian Tales (1926), The American Indian What Is He? (1914), and The Indian How Book: Authentic Information on American Indian Crafts, Customs, Food and Clothing, Religion and Recreations (1927) [5]. Parker's support of Iroquois artisans was of equal relevance. He collected the works of numerous craftspeople while with the New York State Museum. After the formation of the Works Progress Administration, Parker encouraged the WPA to engage and support the work of Iroquois artists. While many Native Americans were arguing for full citizenship and trying to disappear into the white man's world, the work of Parker and Clarke, along with others such as Francis LaFlesche and James Murie, shows a small group intent on preserving the artistic fundamentals of cultures that were perceived to be failing.

Like these preservationists, Walker felt that much of the traditional culture was lost with each passing generation and felt that to be particularly true of the Wyandot. Although Walker's works have never been widely known, they are illustrative of the oral traditions of his people. His narratives and poems are written through an Indian persona and represent his attempts to preserve some of the old stories he learned as a child. In 1924, Walker published a collection of poetry entitled Nubbins, a reference to small, underdeveloped ears of corn. The original edition was published by the Harlow Publishing Company of Oklahoma City. The topics of the poetry are varied and reflect many aspects of Wyandot life: from objects like the calumet and arrowhead to love songs and lullabies. Not only do they point toward the life of the Wyandot, they are written to illustrate the dialect of the people and should be read with that in mind. The initial version also included art work by another Indian, Roger Roy Eubanks (Cherokee).

In addition to the poetry contained in Nubbins, Walker also wrote Tales of the Bark Lodges, a collection of 12 stories full of wit and humor. Both volumes of work are written in a way to not only preserve the stories and the tradition of story telling, but to preserve the dialect as well.

History has unjustly ignored those whom Walker refers to in the poem O-See-O as the TRUE AMERICANS and they the things they really value about their native cultures: their languages, religions, oral traditions and arts. It is essential to recognize that both written and oral traditions hold value and to accept the challenge of exploring, gathering and bringing forth real Native American History. As Alfonso Ortiz argued, to have a true history of this land, it is vital the works of those such as B. N. O. Walker, Hen-Toh, be included to avoid a history that is incomplete.